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The Public

The Public

The question of ownership of public media in Germany, as in many other countries, cannot be answered unequivocally. Formally, they have no more owners than a police station, a court, a parliament or a ministry. They exist as so-called public institutions ‘in their own right’. In principle, however, according to the broadcasters themselves, as well as the representatives of media policy and supervisory bodies, they belong to the general public. This means that the citizens of Germany would not only be users and contributors, but could also be considered the ultimate legitimate owners of ARD, ZDF and Deutschlandradio.

In practice, however, these owner rights are exercised by institutional bodies and regulated by media policy. Direct co-determination or public participation is currently not provided for in the public service broadcasting system, which has its origins in post-war Germany of the twentieth century.

After the Second World War, the Western Allies set up a broadcasting system in the Federal Republic of Germany based on the BBC in the United Kingdom. The federal system with autonomously operating broadcasting organisations was intended to prevent a future alignment as had previously occurred under the National Socialists. The public-service nature of the system was also intended to prevent broadcasting from becoming dependent on advertising revenue, thus ensuring free and comprehensive reporting. It was not until 1984 that the Federal Constitutional Court's so-called third broadcasting judgement opened up the possibility of private broadcasting. Since then, Germany has had a dual broadcasting system in which both public-service and private broadcasting exist in parallel.

Public broadcasting in Germany is financed by all citizens through the so-called broadcasting fee. The fee is currently 18.36 euros per month. The amount of the fee and its regular adjustment are determined and monitored by the Commission for Determining the Financial Requirements of Broadcasting Organisations (KEF). Any increase must be approved by all individual state parliaments.

In total, public broadcasting in Germany consists of the nine regional broadcasting organisations, which are organised in the ARD and also provide a joint programme for it (Bayerischer Rundfunk, Hessischer Rundfunk, Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk, Norddeutscher Rundfunk, Radio Bremen, Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg, Saarländischer Rundfunk, Südwestrundfunk, Westdeutscher Rundfunk), Deutsche Welle, Deutschlandradio and ZDF. In addition, the channels 3Sat and Arte cooperate internationally with Switzerland, Austria and France.

Deutsche Welle occupies a special position in that its programme is explicitly aimed at foreign countries. Its task is to inform the international public about Germany. It is the only broadcasting organisation that is a federal institution under public law and is not financed from the licence fee but from the federal budget.

Public broadcasting has a basic supply mandate. According to the German Media State Treaty, it is to ‘fulfil the democratic, social and cultural needs of society (...)’. Its task is to provide citizens with information, entertainment, culture, advice and education. This is not only intended to enable political opinion-forming and social participation, but also to promote social cohesion and European integration (§26 MStV). Public broadcasting now includes not only television and radio (broadcasting in the traditional sense), but also online services, social media accounts, media libraries and apps.

Since public broadcasting is financed by society, the public should have a say in its control and organisation in return. This is ensured by the composition of the broadcasting organisations' supervisory bodies, such as the broadcasting councils. Under state law, a broad spectrum of social groups, such as professional associations, trade unions, minority representatives, churches and other interest groups, are entitled to seats on these bodies, which enable them to influence the organisation of the broadcasting organisations.

The amount of the licence fee and the scope of the public service offering are regularly the subject of discussions and court proceedings. On the one hand, private media companies see their right to fair competition as being violated by the growing range of services offered by public broadcasters, while on the other hand critics accuse the broadcasting organisations of being too close to the state, for example through politicians in their supervisory bodies, and even of being politically dependent. The high expenditure on salaries and pensions at management level in the broadcasting organisations is also regularly criticised.

As stipulated in the state laws governing the individual broadcasting organisations and the German Interstate Media Treaty, public broadcasting organisations are allowed to hold shares in companies as long as ‘this is objectively related to their legal responsibilities’ (§41 MStV). They are also allowed to offer commercial activities through subsidiaries to a limited extent (§40 MStV). These include, for example, advertising companies such as NDR Media GmbH or WDR mediagroup, production companies or service providers in the field of broadcasting infrastructure and technology. The public broadcasting corporations have stakes in a large number of companies, some of which are wholly owned subsidiaries of the individual broadcasting corporations, while others serve the purpose of joint work. For example, all ARD broadcasting organisations have an equal share (5.6% each, with ZDF holding 50%) in SportA GmbH, which acquires broadcasting rights for sporting events. The shareholdings of the individual broadcasting organisations, which each operate autonomously, can be viewed in the profiles of the organisations.

Media Companies / Groups
100%
ARD
100%
Bayerischer Rundfunk
100%
Norddeutscher Rundfunk
100%
Südwestdeutscher Rundfunk
100%
Westdeutscher Rundfunk
100%
ZDF
Media Outlets
100%
TV
ZDF
100%
TV
Das Erste
100%
TV
NDR Fernsehen
100%
TV
WDR Fernsehen
100%
Radio
Bayern 1
100%
Radio
WDR 2
100%
Radio
SWR 3
100%
Radio
1Live
100%
Radio
NDR 2
100%
Radio
Bayern 3
100%
Radio
SWR 1 BW
100%
Online
tagesschau
Facts

Business

Media

307 production GmbH (100.0%) (NDR)

Further Information

Headlines

Der ARD-ZDF-Zukunftsrat und eine Jahrhundertaufgabe (2024), Medieninsider, Accessed on 15.05.2024

Active Transparency

company/channel informs proactively and comprehensively about its ownership, data is constantly updated and easily verifiable

4 ♥

Meta Data

Note on the level of transparency:
Since a classification of the level of transparency with regard to ownership structures is not possible for public media, the evaluation included the availability of information on the supervisory and control bodies as well as information on their members and the transparency with regard to corporate investments.

Sources

Öffentlich-rechtlicher Rundfunk, (2009), Aus Politik und Zeitgeschichte, Accessed on 15.05.2024

Documents

Satzung der ARD
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